18.4.11

if this old house could talk

(Outfit: 1940s dress; J Crew blouse; vintage pearls; TUK pumps)

I took these pictures at a very enchanting abandoned cottage that's up a winding dirt road a few miles from my mom's house. I have asked some of the old timers in town about it, and apparently it's been empty for a really long time. It was a case of the elderly owner dying and leaving the place to indifferent heirs, a common story with abandoned houses and farms around here. It shows its neglect, tragically: there are holes in the roof, and the whole thing seems about ready to tumble down. The wallpaper inside is really divine though, and the furniture left behind is so ornate and splendid. It just breaks my heart that a lovely house like this is just slowly going to ruin, and will soon be a forgotten pile of rotten timber, leaving no trace as to the beauty that was once inside. If the owners don't want it, they should just hand the key over to me, I'll love it for them!

And let me talk about this dress! I have dresses that are much older, fancier, and just higher quality. However, for some reason, this little cornflower blue cotton frock is my favorite! I just love it, and I feel so happy every time I wear it. The cut is absolutely amazing; it fits me just perfectly. It's a late 40s dress, from the beginning of the New Look period. It was quite a bit longer when I got it; luckily I just tacked the hem up, so I may let it back down one of these days.

((click any image to enlarge on Flickr))

(^^ This daffodil wallpaper was my favorite!)

Check it out, the former owners plastered this wall with early 1940s newspaper-- from the fashion section! Smart people.

These are just a few of the pictures I took; I might post some more a bit later. It's hard to pick my favorites, as each room is so different and so amazing. So consider this Part I, if you will.

30 comments:

how amazing that such an amazing house is near. I wish! You could probably say I live in Suburbia where wallpaper is a word in a foreign language. If only... I love the daffodils and your dress is stunning.

WOW! That wallpaper is incredible and there is something so charming about the newel post and stairway! This must have been such a lovely house in its day, though its disrepair is charming as well. As usual, you look great. I like the dress/blouse combo very much. And that snapshot of your reflection in the mirror is so gorgeous, and a little spooky.

Abandoned houses are so fascinating and sad at the same time, these pictures really capture that! I love your dress too, it's beautiful. The newspaper wall idea is genius too, I must try it!From Carys of La Ville Inconnue

Thank you!! I absolutely adore abandoned buildings of any kind. They're haunting, like forgotten lives that are just waiting to tell their stories! While the wallpaper is amazing, I love the mirror photo. Eerie in a good way! :)

This is AMAZING!! Definitely some of my favorite images so far, but I have this unhealthy obsession with abandoned buildings. This post looks like it came from an Anthropologie catalog...whoa. I think that made more sense in my head. But it was a compliment!

The ghostly quality was accidental-- I used my tripod/self timer, but I kept underestimating how long the shutter would take, so the walls are crystal clear and I'm a blurry spirit! I like the effect though-- pretty with a dash of spooky, just like this house.

I have a soft spot for corn flower blue, and you look divine in it. It's such a shame that so many building's get left to ruin, only last week I was wandering around the outside of a beautiful derelict house, they shouldn't mind if we move into these abandoned homes!?x

Love all the wallpaper in the home, I would have been tempted to try to scrape some off to take home with me! I can see why you like this dress so much, the colour is wonderful on you and it's a flattering silhouette. It also seems like it could be dressed up or be more casual depending on accessories.

There are a lot of abandoned homes like this near the university campus of my hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas. The university bought the homes decades ago as they want to expand on the land they sit on; in the mean time the homes are rotting away. :( I used to take pictures in them when I was in high school but they have all been boarded up now.

There is definitely such a bittersweet element to such a lovely but decaying house, as so many of you have noted. It can be a bit depressing to imagine how much hardwork went into it, how many lives were lived here, and now it's all but disappeared, crumbling back into the landscape. But hey, it's living on in a way, immortalized through these photos and currently starring as the darling of my blog, haha.

Hannah, I ask myself the same thing all the time; I mean surely it'd be better to let me live in that cottage instead of watching it go to ruin, right? ; )

Leilani, those pictures sound amazing!! I actually did pick up some wallpaper strips from the ground to put in my scrapbook.

Um you best style!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My life is complete now that I have seen your style! How is it possible! Everything! Your house, backdrops, clothes! holy smokes! I mean WOW! You said you are inspired by me...well I am completely inspired by you! I am so excited to continue looking at your archives!!!

This has to be one of my very favourite dresses of yours. You're so pretty!That house is so incredible! I love the mystery and dreaminess of an abandoned place, but it's so sad it was let to get to that condition. The wallpaper is amazing, oh, how i'd love to explore that place too :)In the third picture you almost look like alice- the slope of the roof makes the room look tiny, something straight from wonderland!Thanks for a lovely post!xErin

I guess the good thing about abandoned houses is that cute lil gals like you get to explore them in darling vintage clothing. it's really beautiful, especially the peeling wallpaper, the remarkable light coming through the windows, and the staircase -- did it creek? the photo of you sitting in the room as the light pours through the tiny old window is amazing. it's like you're in a dollhouse.

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N.B.

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